PORT ANGELES — A survival suit that can keep a person warm in cold water for days.
Paper towels that double as bibs.
A nonprofit store that re-sells housing materials to help people own their first homes.
A device that allows women a freedom that, until now, was biologically reserved for men — urinating standing up.
These are four business ideas that are ready for prime time, according to a program administered by the Clallam County Economic Development Council that evaluated their originality and financial potential.
They were culled down from the 18 business ideas that were evaluated in this summer’s inaugural Access, Translation, Valuation program.
“Out of those [18], I would say there are these four that will probably be in business by the middle of next year,” said Linda Rotmark, EDC executive director.
“There were a lot of great ideas, but those four were really the ones that were on their way to being manufactured,” Rotmark said.
The program scored business ideas on their originality and financial potential through a national software called Merwyn.
“The great thing about this technology is that it gives a rating and an evaluation that these business owners can then take to investors and banks and show them that this is a good idea,” Rotmark said.
Uraid
Lynn Langford’s business idea, for instance, was both original and had high potential, Rotmark said.
Langford’s Uraid is a small paper contraption that allows a woman to urinate while standing up.
The 72-year-old Port Angeles woman came up with the idea for the unique device, which is waterproof on the inside and has tissue on the other side, many years ago at a NASCAR race while sitting in a port-a-potty, she said.
“My nose was right in the urinal, and I thought right then — never again,” she said.
Langford has been working on the Uraid for nine years.
“I’d tell women about it and they would immediately get it, but then I would tell the business-type people and they didn’t get anything,” the inventor said.
So her high score on the Merwyn software will help her sell the idea, said Langford, who has developed a prototype but has not found a manufacturer.
“I scored a 70, and the average score nationwide is a 29,” Langford said.
She hopes the Uraid could benefit women in combat.
Breathe-4-Life
The developers of the Breathe-4-Life survival suit hope to sell their idea to the military as well.
“We are working through the process of having it certified by the Coast Guard as an official survival suit,” said Bob Groff of Port Angeles, president and CEO of Breathe-4-Life.
The insulated suit, which was developed by founder and board chairman Bob Duncan of Sequim, uses the wearer’s breath to warm the body.
The wearer exhales into a tube, filling the suit with air warmed to 88 degrees, the inventors say on their Web site www.breathe4life.com.
The suit is buoyant and includes a pillow to keep the head facing forward and a protective face shield. It also captures condensation for drinking water.
“The great thing about their suit is that it tests at helping people survive nine times longer than the suits that are already out there,” Rotmark said.
The suit has been tested off Alaskan shores, in the water off Sidney, British Columbia and off the John Wayne Marina near Sequim.
In the 2005 Sequim test, with the help of Clallam County Search and Rescue volunteers, the suit was found to keep a wearer warm for 25 hours, the inventors said on their Web site.
Groff said the company is creating a second prototype before it seeks a manufacturer.
Towels into bibs
Mary Washatka of Sequim is working on her first prototype of a roll of paper towels that can be torn into bibs.
“I had done the patent and gotten all of that done, and now I’m just trying to get a prototype ready,” she said.
“I would love to do the manufacturing right in Port Angeles and to employ a large number of people from here.
“I’m working on talking to investors and advisers on how feasible that is.”
ReStore
Already in place at 728 E. Front St. in Port Angeles — but not yet open for business — is the ReStore Home Improvement Warehouse.
When it opens later this month, it will resell donated home building materials and furniture from manufacturers, retailers, contractors and individuals.
The money will go into the Habitat for Humanity of Clallam County’s home construction fund.
“Really this program confirmed what was in our business plan,” said Royce Rotmark, executive director.
Habitat, a nonprofit builder of affordable housing, helps qualified people who earn 25 percent to 50 percent of the area median income to own their own homes. Families contribute “sweat equity,” helping to build the homes.
The ReStore is now accepting donations.
For more information, phone ReStore manager Robert Eichhorn of Sequim at 360-417-7543.
The EDC program’s purpose was to encourage locally-owned business.
“We still, of course, are looking for new industries that might want to locate in the area, but the focus now is growing local entrepreneurs,” said Rotmark.
No date has been set for the next program.
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Reporter Paige Dickerson can be reached at 360-417-3535 or at paige.dickerson@peninsuladailynews.com.
